Sunderland preparing for ‘massive’ week in fight for survival with Brentford, Bolton and Middlesbrough on horizon

Sunderland have a ‘massive’ couple of weeks ahead of them in the fight for survival, says George Honeyman.

The midfielder was part of the Sunderland side that pulled off a remarkable point at Bristol City against all odds.

With confidence boosted after coming from 3-0 behind to snatch a draw at the death, Sunderland now face a potentially pivotal week.

Brentford are the visitors to the Stadium of Light on Saturday with a midweek trip to relegation rivals Bolton Wanderers before the visit of Middlesbrough a week Saturday.

Honeyman said: “We have a massive couple of weeks coming up and we have to go into it on a high after Bristol, go into Saturday confident of getting the three points if we play like we did second half.

“That gave everyone a lift, the fans at the end too. Hopefully this will prove a massive point come the end of the season.

“It is there, we just need to stop giving ourselves such big uphill task.

“We have the quality, we need to build on this and see where it takes us.”

Sunderland got off to the worst possible start at Ashton Gate, Aden Flint giving Lee Johnson’s side a fifth minute lead after he lost his marker at a free-kick.

Honeyman admits it is difficult to put his finger on the exact reason’s behind Sunderland’s tendency to start slowly, but praised the spirit needed to claw back a result.

“This is something we really need to build on from now, let’s not waste the result,” said Honeyman.

“There felt a real togetherness and we need to carry on with it. I don’t know why it is we started so bad, whether it is nervous energy around the place.

“At least we showed the character to come back but we need to stop giving ourselves these mountains to climb.

“The first goal is so important in this league, it shoots a lot of our confidence when we concede first, I don’t know what it is we need to change but we need to build on the second half performance.”